Re: Lyric Entry

[Mats Bengtsson]

Aaron Dalton wrote:
> I am brand new to Lilypond and am having a heck of a time getting lyrics to 
> render properly.  I have 2 questions:
>
> 1) I want to line up the words "Agnus Dei" under a certain set of notes.  So 
> far the only way I have been able to properly align the syllables "De-i" is 
> using 3 dashes (see source below) but I only want it to display *one* dash in 
> the center of the melisma.  If I enter "De -- i" or even "De -- -- -- i" it 
> ignores the melisma.  Is there a way to make this only display one dash 
> between De and i?
>
> supMusic = \notes \relative f' { f2. c4 f8 g a2 g4 a2 r4 }
> supWords = \lyrics { A -- gnus De - - - i, }

In most scores, such a melisma (that you sing one syllable to several
notes) is typeset with a slur or possibly a beam over the corresponding
notes. LilyPond knows about these conventions, but if you want a
melisma without a corresponding slur or beam, you can use the \melisma
command, described at
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.2/Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond/The-Lyrics-context.html


> 2) Second question is with position of the lyrics.  I have tried really hard 
> to read the documentation and mailling list archives but have been unable to 
> find my answer.  I copied and modified the satb.ly template to give myself 3 
> staves.  The problem is, all my lyrics are printing above the staff and I 
> want them below.  How do I do this?  Below is my actual source code.

All contexts are typeset vertically in the order they first
appear in the score{...}. So, if you want the lyrics below the
corresponding stave, just move the \context Lyrics = superius { s1 }
below the \context Staff = superius <<...>>, for example.
(Then you actually don't even need the dummy
\context Lyrics = superius { s1 }, see the mailing list archive
for a better explanation).

   /Mats

> Thank you so much for your time and patience!
>
> \header {
>  title = "Mass for Three Voices"
>  composer = "William Byrd"
> }
>
> supMusic = \notes \relative f' { f2. c4 f8 g a2 g4 a2 r4 }
> supWords = \lyrics { A -- gnus De - - - i, }
>
> altusMusic = \notes  \relative c' { }
> altusWords =\lyrics { }
>
> bassMusic = \notes \relative c { }
> bassWords = \lyrics {  }
>
> \score {
>  \notes <<
>   \context Lyrics = superius { s1 }
>   \context Staff = superius <<
>    \set Staff.instrument = Superius
>    \set Staff.instr = Sup
>    \clef treble
>    \time 4/4
>    \key f \major
>    \context Voice = superius \supMusic
>   >> %superius staff
>   \context Lyrics = altus { s1 }
>   \context Staff = altus <<
>    \set Staff.instrument = Altus
>    \set Staff.instr = Alt
>    \clef "treble_8"
>    \time 4/4
>    \key f \major
>    \context Voice = altus \altusMusic
>   >> %altus staff
>   \context Lyrics = bassus { s1 }
>   \context Staff = bassus <<
>    \set Staff.instrument = Bassus
>    \set Staff.instr = Bass
>    \clef bass
>    \time 4/4
>    \key f \major
>    \context Voice = bassus \bassMusic
>   >> %bassus staff
>   \context Lyrics = superius \lyricsto superius \supWords
>   \context Lyrics = altus \lyricsto altus \altusWords
>   \context Lyrics = bassus \lyricsto bassus \bassWords
>  >> %notes
>
>  \paper {
>   \context {
>    \VoiceContext
>    \consists Ambitus_engraver
>   }
>  }
>
>  \header { piece = "Agnus Dei" }
>
> } %score

--
=============================================
        Mats Bengtsson
        Signal Processing
        Signals, Sensors and Systems
        Royal Institute of Technology
        SE-100 44  STOCKHOLM
        Sweden
        Phone: (+46) 8 790 8463                         
        Fax:   (+46) 8 790 7260
        Email: address@hidden
        WWW: http://www.s3.kth.se/~mabe
=============================================